Re: Computer SOS!

The wife was looking for a vegan recipe and something had popped up. It was the Windows shield so she thought it was legit. Clicked. BOOM! "Your Hard drive is corrupted." We'll do you the favor of scanning and cleaning it for you, just pay us. Right.

Thanks, RSW. I had heard about it and was able to find a link to the exact one I'm messing with. Probably the same thing, just a different look. Mine was S.M.A.R.T. recovery, or something like that. I will go through what the link says tomorrow or something. Got my files, that was the most important thing. Now just gotta get everything back the way it was.

A note on this thing: It wouldn't let me boot in to safe mode. I had to power off the computer so that Windows would tell me it didn't shut down properly and then it gives you the option.

Re: Computer SOS!

You just weren't hitting F8 at the right time. There's a window of like two seconds in which the command will register. Just start tapping F8 like twice per second from the instant it starts to boot until you get to the Safe Mode screen.

If you had the S.M.A.R.T. infection you have something very similar but there are a couple slight differences in the removal procedure I think. bleepingcomputer.com has great guides for all this stuff, google exact whatever you had:

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by theresalwaysone

I'm curious how you got the rootkit. Did you inadvertently click on something? Was it through malicious code on a website?

The best way to prevent shit like this is keeping all your client software up to date. Especially flash, acrobat/reader, java, QuickTime, etc. Most malware going around take advantage of security holes in older versions that have been patched in the latest versions. All it takes is going to a webpage with malicious code in it. A great tool for this is ninite (ninite.com). You choose all the software on your computer that you want to keep updated and it creates an executable that you can run once a week or so and it will update them all automatically. I love ninite. Also make sure Microsoft update is keeping windows and office up to date as well.

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by Sexecutioner

The best way to prevent shit like this is keeping all your client software up to date. Especially flash, acrobat/reader, java, QuickTime, etc. Most malware going around take advantage of security holes in older versions that have been patched in the latest versions. All it takes is going to a webpage with malicious code in it. A great tool for this is ninite (ninite.com). You choose all the software on your computer that you want to keep updated and it creates an executable that you can run once a week or so and it will update them all automatically. I love ninite. Also make sure Microsoft update is keeping windows and office up to date as well.

This has nothing to do with how spyware gets in, Josh. Just sayin'.

The best way to stay uninfected is to run CCleaner and Malwarebytes once a week with Microsoft Security Essentials as your background AV software.

EDIT: Also, never use Internet Explorer when browsing except for sites that absolutely require it. Spyware designers target holes in IE and sometimes Firefox specifically. Chrome I've found to be much more impervious.

Last edited by RotationSlimWang; 05-06-2012 at 06:05 PM.

Originally Posted by amyzzz

Hannah, I don't know that pigs have big weiners, and my early 20's facination with dogs because of weiner size, I think. If that helps.

Re: Computer SOS!

Also, FWIW, I never keep anything of value on the same HD that my OS installed on. Everything is stored on external HDs. If I ever feel like I just need to reformat everything and start fresh, I don't have to worry about losing anything.

Re: Computer SOS!

You never really need to reformat even in the case of severe infections. Just install Windows over top of itself and make sure all your docs get stored in your user profile folders (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Favorites, Music, Pictures, Video. Don't make any weird new folders on the root of your C drive for example, use the common save locations things go to by default). Then if you ever have to do a fresh install, in XP nothing gets changed at all you just have to tell it to install windows to a different named folder (e.g. C:\WINXP instead of the default C:\WINDOWS). In Vista/7, Windows will automatically take the user profiles, Windows, and Program Files folders from your old install and move them into a new folder called Windows.old, after which they are easily retrievable.

Anyone who tells you they've actually HAD to format a drive to get rid of a virus doesn't know what they're doing.

Originally Posted by amyzzz

Hannah, I don't know that pigs have big weiners, and my early 20's facination with dogs because of weiner size, I think. If that helps.

Re: Computer SOS!

That's exactly how it gets infected. Would you like to enlighten me to the contrary?

I mean it sort of does in that sometimes yes, it's a Java exploit maybe, but Quicktime? Are you fucking kidding me?

Spyware gets into your machine because in order to view a webpage your machine has to copy all the individual pieces of code into hidden temp folders. Not the Temporary Internet Files or Cookies although those can contain little pieces, but %userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp, %userprofile%\Application Data\Temp, Windows\Temp, etc. The guys who distribute the really successful packages hide like 1/100th of their overall package into parts of the ad cycles on all kinds of websites who aren't very careful about checking who's renting out the ad sections of their page. Because these folders never get cleaned out unless you run a util like CCleaner or its equivalents, some day you finally get 100/100ths all hanging out there in the same folders and they finally have all the components of a functioning program and they start launching shit. I've never even heard of a Quicktime exploit, and the real reason I say your summarization is not the point is that keeping those softwares updated absolutely will NOT protect you from this shit. You can be updated Java and Flash and everything else you want in the world, if you don't clean out the temp folders and do regular scans with Malwarebytes or one of its brethren, you're going to get infected. It's just part of being on the internet in this age.

Originally Posted by amyzzz

Hannah, I don't know that pigs have big weiners, and my early 20's facination with dogs because of weiner size, I think. If that helps.

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by ialvarado2

BITCH PLEASE
You're using Windows

Yea, cuz macs are invincible, right? Think again dude. For hackers its a numbers game: target the most used OS. As macs get more popular, they will start to get infected more and more. Like this one that happened just recently: http://blogs.computerworld.com/19989..._macs_infected
a quote from article:

Apple maintains its own version of Java, and [is] unacceptably far behind Oracle in patching critical flaws. ... [Its] lackadaisical...response to patching dangerous security holes perpetuates the harmful myth that Mac users don’t need to be concerned about malware.

Originally Posted by RotationSlimWang

I mean it sort of does in that sometimes yes, it's a Java exploit maybe, but Quicktime? Are you fucking kidding me?

Spyware gets into your machine because in order to view a webpage your machine has to copy all the individual pieces of code into hidden temp folders. Not the Temporary Internet Files or Cookies although those can contain little pieces, but %userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp, %userprofile%\Application Data\Temp, Windows\Temp, etc. The guys who distribute the really successful packages hide like 1/100th of their overall package into parts of the ad cycles on all kinds of websites who aren't very careful about checking who's renting out the ad sections of their page. Because these folders never get cleaned out unless you run a util like CCleaner or its equivalents, some day you finally get 100/100ths all hanging out there in the same folders and they finally have all the components of a functioning program and they start launching shit. I've never even heard of a Quicktime exploit, and the real reason I say your summarization is not the point is that keeping those softwares updated absolutely will NOT protect you from this shit. You can be updated Java and Flash and everything else you want in the world, if you don't clean out the temp folders and do regular scans with Malwarebytes or one of its brethren, you're going to get infected. It's just part of being on the internet in this age.

you're flat out wrong dude. do you have any evidence to support this? if so, id love to hear it, because a recent study validates my claim about 3rd party software being the biggest attack vector:

CSIS Security Group in Denmark conducted a study of almost three months where they collected real-time data from various so-called exploit kits that Danish users were exposed to. As described by Peter Kruse, Partner and Security Specialist at CSIS:

"An exploit kit is a commercial hacker toolbox that is actively exploited by computer criminals who take advantage of vulnerabilities in popular software. Up to 85 % of all virus infections occur as a result of drive-by attacks automated via commercial exploit kits."

How PCs Get Infected
The CSIS study revealed that as much as 99.8 % of all virus/malware infections were a direct result of not updating five specific software packages. Aside from missing Microsoft security updates, the study revealed the following out of date programs as being the most used by malware: Java JRE (37%), Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat (32%), Adobe Flash (16%) and Microsoft Internet Explorer (10%).

Third-Party Software
Setting aside browser and operating system for the moment, what is notable from the CSIS study is the impact of third-party software, notably Java JRE, Adobe Reader and Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Flash.

Oracle Java JRE
When it comes to Oracle Java JRE, you may have it installed on your computer but might not even need it. Following are reasons why someone may need Oracle Sun Java installed on their computer:

Playing on-line games generally requires Java.
With OpenOffice, Java is needed for the items listed here .
It used to be that Java was needed for websites to be properly displayed. However, that is generally not the case now with Flash having taken over.
There may be commercial programs that depend on Java. If Java is needed for a software installed on your computer, there should be a prompt for it.

If the above does not apply to you, consider uninstalling Java. In the event you discover that it is needed, you can always download the most recent version.

Adobe Products
Regular readers of this blog are familiar with my postings of critical updates for Adobe products. You may not realize, however, that there have been over a dozen critical updates of Adobe products just this year between February and September. Combined, out-dated Adobe products were the direct result of 48% of the infections in the analysis.

Although I will continue providing updates for these products, it is advisable that you check that you have the most recent versions of Adobe products. Personally, I switched to an alternate PDF reader some time ago. There are a number of open source readers available from http://pdfreaders.org/. Others include Nitro Reader and Sumatra PDF.

Internet Explorer
Although Internet Explorer is listed as shown in the CSIS analysis as the most affected browser, the report falls short in not breaking down the statistics by browser version. According to the IE6 Countdown, at the end of September, 2011, 9% of the world is still using IE6.

It is not very likely that 66% of reported thousands of users in the analysis who had been exposed to drive-by attacks were using IE9. Nonetheless, Denmark should be commended with only 0.7% of the users still on IE6. The percentage still using IE7 is unknown. Considering the high percentage of affected Windows XP computers, it would not be surprising to learn that the majority have not updated to IE8.

That's the summary, the original study is here: http://www.csis.dk/en/csis/news/3321/
and if you read it you'll notice that quicktime counted for 2% of the attacks. Not huge, but it does happen.

Re: Computer SOS!

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by Sexecutioner

Yea, cuz macs are invincible, right? Think again dude. For hackers its a numbers game: target the most used OS. As macs get more popular, they will start to get infected more and more. Like this one that happened just recently: http://blogs.computerworld.com/19989..._macs_infected
a quote from article:

you're flat out wrong dude. do you have any evidence to support this? if so, id love to hear it, because a recent study validates my claim:

That's the summary, the original study is here: http://www.csis.dk/en/csis/news/3321/
and if you read it you'll notice that quicktime counted for 2% of the attacks. Not huge, but it does happen.

I'm not about to listen to any bullshit that thinks it can tell people they probably won't need Java. That's fucking ridiculous.

SMART HDD is the single most popular spyware right now. It does not use any of the exploits you mentioned, it uses OS and browser exploits. I guarantee you at any given time the most popular spyware going around isn't using a fucking Java or Adobe exploit. Only like 1 out of 50 spyware bundles is any more trouble than just running Malwarebytes but those are the ones that matter.

Originally Posted by amyzzz

Hannah, I don't know that pigs have big weiners, and my early 20's facination with dogs because of weiner size, I think. If that helps.

Re: Computer SOS!

Question for you guys. Excuse me ahead of time for my beginner computer lingo. My computer is not working like it use to. It's telling me that there is basically no space left on C: drive, but my D: drive has a ton of room left. how do I transfer data to D from C? or how do I start using D instead of C? what's the best option here?

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by hippityhip

Question for you guys. Excuse me ahead of time for my beginner computer lingo. My computer is not working like it use to. It's telling me that there is basically no space left on C: drive, but my D: drive has a ton of room left. how do I transfer data to D from C? or how do I start using D instead of C? what's the best option here?

Unless you have two drives in your PC, it might just be that your "D" drive is the partition drive of your "C" drive. With most PC's, a partitioned drive is kept for all files that deal with backup/restores. GPS said it right. Go get yourself an external HDD, or just buy another internal and install it.

Originally Posted by fatbastard

Don't ever use Paul's name again in a posting. YOU GOT THAT YOU STUPID MOTHERFUCKER? Paul was making his bones in the business back when you were just cum in your mother's ear.

Re: Computer SOS!

cool. thanks guys. I created a link of D: on my desktop. Apparently a big chunk of data I had on C: is video. I dragged and dropped to D: and it cleared up the issue. It was so simple I feel stupid for asking. Thanks again!

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by RotationSlimWang

I mean it sort of does in that sometimes yes, it's a Java exploit maybe, but Quicktime? Are you fucking kidding me?

Spyware gets into your machine because in order to view a webpage your machine has to copy all the individual pieces of code into hidden temp folders. Not the Temporary Internet Files or Cookies although those can contain little pieces, but %userprofile%\Local Settings\Temp, %userprofile%\Application Data\Temp, Windows\Temp, etc. The guys who distribute the really successful packages hide like 1/100th of their overall package into parts of the ad cycles on all kinds of websites who aren't very careful about checking who's renting out the ad sections of their page. Because these folders never get cleaned out unless you run a util like CCleaner or its equivalents, some day you finally get 100/100ths all hanging out there in the same folders and they finally have all the components of a functioning program and they start launching shit. I've never even heard of a Quicktime exploit, and the real reason I say your summarization is not the point is that keeping those softwares updated absolutely will NOT protect you from this shit. You can be updated Java and Flash and everything else you want in the world, if you don't clean out the temp folders and do regular scans with Malwarebytes or one of its brethren, you're going to get infected. It's just part of being on the internet in this age.

I have Windows 7 and I had previously installed both Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast Antivirus and they worked great together until I moved and my computer was disconnected from the internet for about 3 weeks. When I got back online nothing seemed to work and my computer would constantly hang shortly after it completed booting and had taken me to my desktop. After some troubleshooting, I suspected the problem was a problem with Avast. I uninstalled Avast through safe mode but it still just wasn't working properly. Doing a reformat takes like 2 hours and was just easier (especially with having nothing of value on my computer HD). So, another reason that it's nice to be able to do a reformat whenever I need to.

Clearly, I've not stayed up to speed on how to best defend myself from threats online. Do you think that, with Windows 7, Microsoft Security Essentials is enough or should I try to reinstall Avast? I think it was a conflict after there was a Windows 7 Security update and Avast hadn't updated their software to comply with Windows 7 but that might be fixed now.

And, which utility/cleaner programs do you recommend for routine maintenance? (free preferred)

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by theresalwaysone

I have Windows 7 and I had previously both Microsoft Security Essentials and Avast Antivirus and they worked great together until I moved and my computer was disconnected from the internet for about 3 weeks. When I got back online nothing seemed to work and my computer would constantly hang shortly after it completed booting and had taken me to my desktop. I uninstalled Avast through safe mode but it still just wasn't working properly. Doing a reformat takes like 2 hours and was just easier (especially with having nothing of value on my computer HD).

Clearly, I've not stayed up to speed on how to best defend myself from threats online. Do you think that, with Windows 7, Microsoft Security Essentials is enough or should I try to reinstall Avast? I think it was a conflict after there was a Windows 7 Security update and Avast hadn't updated their software to comply with Windows 7 but that might be fixed now.

And, which utility/cleaner programs do you recommend for routine maintenance? (free preferred)

Thanks in advance

I'm pretty sure the post yu quoted actually states the answer to your question. Security Essentials, CCleaner, Malwarebytes. Run the last two once a week. Uncheck the box in CCleaner for History, Cookies, and Windows Log Files.

Originally Posted by amyzzz

Hannah, I don't know that pigs have big weiners, and my early 20's facination with dogs because of weiner size, I think. If that helps.

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by RotationSlimWang

I'm pretty sure the post yu quoted actually states the answer to your question. Security Essentials, CCleaner, Malwarebytes. Run the last two once a week. Uncheck the box in CCleaner for History, Cookies, and Windows Log Files.

Well you said "CC Cleaner or it's equivalents" so I was looking for a clarification on what "its equivalents" you recommend or if CC Cleaner is the best option. But, I'll go with CCleaner and Malwarebytes. Thanks.

Re: Computer SOS!

Originally Posted by RotationSlimWang

I'm not about to listen to any bullshit that thinks it can tell people they probably won't need Java. That's fucking ridiculous.

SMART HDD is the single most popular spyware right now. It does not use any of the exploits you mentioned, it uses OS and browser exploits. I guarantee you at any given time the most popular spyware going around isn't using a fucking Java or Adobe exploit. Only like 1 out of 50 spyware bundles is any more trouble than just running Malwarebytes but those are the ones that matter.

Re: Computer SOS!

Facts? I do about 30-50 spyware removals a week. I see firsthand exactly what the most popular bundles are at any given time, which are the most damaging, hardest to remove, etc. I don't really care what some PC Mag article has to say.

Originally Posted by amyzzz

Hannah, I don't know that pigs have big weiners, and my early 20's facination with dogs because of weiner size, I think. If that helps.

Re: Computer SOS!

Right, 'cause the fact that my methods keep my clients from ever getting reinfected certainly isn't proof that I know what the fuck I'm doing. Look, dude, it's real cute that you read statistics in magazines about what percentage of worldwide spyware gets in through what, but I'm not really concerned with 98 percent of the world's spyware. I'm concerned with the 2 percent that actually fucks with people's lives. You can have a machine that hasn't been updated since 2006, if you run CCleaner and Malwarebytes regularly you're safe. That's just the reality.

Originally Posted by amyzzz

Hannah, I don't know that pigs have big weiners, and my early 20's facination with dogs because of weiner size, I think. If that helps.

Re: Computer SOS!

Simple question:

I have a 720gb external hard drive. I've had a couple issues in the past, but they went away.
Recently, when I plug the external hard drive into my computer, it turns on, and starts beeping.
Whenever it's plugged into my PS3, it runs perfectly fine and will play any video file and music file I already had on the drive. Any ideas of how to make it work again on my computer? I have movies and such on there that I would like to save back on my computer.

Originally Posted by miscorrections

It's really boring when people use this thread to post about their successes.

Re: Computer SOS!

You have a curse. You need to find a witch and send her to thew bottom of your nearest lake, weighed down by 9 stones of identical weight. After 7 days fish her out and bury her in a field under a tree. When she comes back to life after 45 days, and IF the tree's 1st cycle life enchantment has occurred by then, then the curse will be lifted.